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The Indianapolis Colts are expected to be one of the top teams in the NFL during the 2015 season and had quite an offseason to become one of their Super Bowl favorites. Ryan Grigson was very aggressive in free agency, and one of his biggest acquisitions was former Houston Texans superstar wide receiver Andre Johnson. Indianapolis was able to convince him to sign with them alongside of Frank Gore, and he is primed to be a big upgrade for the Colts’ offense.
Johnson decided to sign with the Colts due to the presence of growing superstar quarterback Andrew Luck. He wanted to play with a star signal-caller, and Luck is by far the best quarterback that he has had the chance to play with in his career.
Last season with the Texans, Johnson ended up catching 85 passes for 936 yards and three touchdowns. Those numbers prove that he is still more than capable of making a major impact on the game, and he did that while playing with Ryan Fitzpatrick as the starting quarterback for the majority of the year. Houston insulted him early on during the offseason, asking him to take a reduced role next year.
Needless to say, that request by the Texans was not accepted and Johnson immediately began pushing to be released so that he could choose his next team as a free agent.
Training camp is going to be an exciting time for the Colts and their fans. Indianapolis hasn’t brought in a superstar like Johnson in free agency in quite some time, and they haven’t been viewed as legitimate Super Bowl contenders since Peyton Manning left town.
There is no question that Johnson is going to be the No. 2 starter across from growing star receiver T.Y. Hilton. Having both of those players as his top two targets will make Luck even more dangerous than he was last season, which is a scary thought for opposing defenses as he already led the Colts to being the top passing offense in the league.
At 33 years old, there has been some concern thrown around about how much high-caliber football Johnson has left to play in his career. That is one thing that he can come out and prove to the fans in training camp to show that he is still capable of being a star for his new team. Signing Johnson was bittersweet for Colts fans, due to the fact that Reggie Wayne was allowed to hit free agency. Simply seeing Johnson get onto the field and dominate during training camp and preseason action would put all of the concerns to sleep in Indy.
It will be very interesting to see what kind of chemistry Johnson is able to build with Luck prior to the season. Switching teams is never easy for any player, but Johnson has attacked his change with excitement and hard work. There is no question about the fact that he is going to have a big year in 2015 assuming he stays healthy, and it all starts with training camp.
All of that being said, there are many reasons for Johnson and the Colts to be excited about the new situation that they are both in. He is going to be one of the missing pieces that the Colts needed last year to get past the New England Patriots in the AFC title game, and the Colts are going to offer Johnson a chance to compete for a Super Bowl win. Indianapolis is without question the top contender to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl on paper, but now they need to show that they can live up to those expectations on the field.
Evan Massey is a featured writer for www.RantSports.com, and contributes across the NFL, MLB, NCAA and NBA portions of the site. Follow him on Twitter at @Massey_Evan and like him on Facebook.
